Sinkholes: The Human Impact: Year In Review 2013

Sinkholes appeared prominently in the news in 2013, in part because of the tragic death of Jeff Bush, a suburban Tampa, Fla., man who was swallowed up when a sinkhole formed directly beneath his bedroom. This incident was followed by several others in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Louisiana, where a sinkhole discovered near Bayou Corne in 2012 had opened to 10 ha (25 ac) by the fall of 2013. In mid-August a 20-m (66-ft)-wide sinkhole formed beneath a resort in central Florida near Orlando, forcing guests out of their rooms as a three-story building collapsed.

Even though they received extensive media coverage in 2013, sinkholes are not a new phenomenon. Sinkhole formation has occurred in areas such as Florida, New Mexico, Kentucky, and Illinois. It is so common in Florida that homeowners have purchased sinkhole insurance for their property. The perception that sinkholes are forming more frequently is influenced by rapid population growth in sinkhole-prone areas, a factor that led to the witnessing and reporting of more sinkholes. There is evidence, however, that the rate of sinkhole development increased during the past half century because of the rise in human activities that induced sinkhole formation, such as excessive groundwater withdrawals or poorly designed drainage systems around buildings.

Sinkholes, referred to as “dolines” by European geoscientists, are classified as karst features. Karst is a landform type that results when circulating groundwater dissolves soluble bedrock. Karst scientists in the 19th century regarded dolines as the typical karst landform, but karst terrain is also characterized by caves, disappearing streams, large springs, and underground drainage. In some karstic regions, such as Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, surface streams are almost nonexistent, and virtually all water flow is through underground conduits.

The most common karstic rocks are limestone—calcium carbonate, CaCO3, in the form of calcite or argonite—and dolomite—calcium magnesium carbonate (CaMg(CO3)2). These minerals are soluble in weak acids and thus are vulnerable to dissolution by groundwater, which is usually charged with carbonic acid (H2CO3) derived from organic material in the soil. In drier regions such as the southwestern United States, however, karst features formed in evaporitic bedrock are more common. Sedimentary rocks produced by the evaporation of saline water, called evaporites, in these areas have commonly included gypsum, which is composed of calcium sulfate (CaSO4∙2H2O), and halite (rock salt), which is composed of sodium chloride (NaCl). Gypsum is many times more soluble than calcite or dolomite, and gypsum outcrops thus are far less common in more humid regions with higher rainfall. In semiarid regions outcrops made up of less-soluble limestone are more likely to form cliffs, and sinkholes formed in gypsum are more widespread. Surface karst features formed in halite are rare because rock salt is highly soluble, although salt karst features have been found in extremely arid regions such as Iran, Israel, and eastern Spain.

Sinkholes resulted from a variety of mechanisms, but they have been classified into three broad categories: those formed by surface or near-surface dissolution; those formed by collapse of overlying bedrock; and those formed entirely in the soil overburden (that is, soil above the bedrock). Spectacular examples of solution sinkholes occur globally in tropical regions such as Java, Indon., Puerto Rico, and the cockpit karst region of Jamaica, but they form relatively slowly and have little human impact. Collapse sinkholes are rare, forming in landscapes that have developed over several thousands or millions of years.

Of the three types, sinkholes formed in the soil overburden are far more common and have presented a serious geohazard (a geologic phenomenon with widespread damage potential) in karst regions. Cover-subsidence sinkholes are made by suffusion, a process wherein unconsolidated soil washes down into open fissures and caves in the underlying bedrock and the land surface above gradually sinks. Cover-collapse, or dropout, sinkholes have formed in more clay-rich, consolidated soil. They commonly result from the development of a cavity within the soil horizon and the subsequent failure of the overlying soil arch. Such cavities can appear rapidly, within days or months, and catastrophic collapse can be very rapid or instantaneous. In 1981 a cover-collapse sinkhole formed in Winter Park, Fla., and swallowed a private home, a municipal swimming pool, part of a repair shop, and large portions of an adjacent street in a relatively small amount of time.

Naturally occurring sinkholes, which are common in karst terrain, may be triggered by weather events such as heavy rainfall or by drought followed by heavy rain. A significant percentage of sinkholes, however, are associated, either directly or indirectly, with human activity. In some cases excessive withdrawals of groundwater for irrigation have lowered water levels and thereby allowed saturated soil to wash down into caves and conduits in the underlying bedrock, which can trigger sinkhole formation. In addition, cover-collapse sinkholes have formed along roads or other areas where water is repeatedly released onto the ground, washing soil into underlying bedrock cavities and creating soil caves that can collapse.

Salt mining has also created sinkholes. In 2008 two large sinkholes formed in southeastern New Mexico when cavities produced by brine well operations—a process that injects fresh water into salt beds to make brine for use as drilling fluid in oil wells—abruptly collapsed. The artificial cavities created by this activity became unstable and resulted in catastrophic collapses. One of the sinkholes ultimately grew to a diameter of more than 100 m (328 ft), with a depth of approximately 45 m (about 150 ft).

Although sinkholes are a significant geohazard in many karst regions, they have played an important role in regional groundwater systems by, among other functions, providing access points for surface water to enter karstic aquifers. In the Yucatan Peninsula steep-walled sinkholes known as cenotes intersect the water table, where they serve as water supplies for nearby communities. In southeastern New Mexico the large gypsum sinkhole lakes east of Roswell were created by upwelling groundwater, which also provides irrigation water for agricultural activity in the Roswell Artesian Basin.

Sinkholes are often sources of groundwater contamination because of their connection with underground aquifers. In many rural areas sinkholes are treated as natural landfills and are used for the disposal of large appliances and old automobiles. The large size of conduits in karstic aquifers prohibits the type of natural filtration that occurs in many nonkarstic aquifers. Contaminants introduced into the groundwater system via sinkholes have appeared in water-supply wells downstream.

Sinkholes have also been identified in submarine settings. Sinkhole origin in the Straits of Florida has been controversial and is often attributed to erosional processes that occurred when the straits were exposed above sea level. Some researchers have suggested that these sinkholes formed because of a type of mixing-zone corrosion, wherein fresh water from onshore aquifers is discharged into the Florida Straits. Fresh water mixing with salt water is thought to have produced a solution that more aggressively dissolved the limestone bedrock. Several of these submarine sinkholes occur on the Pourtales Terrace off the Florida Keys at depths of several hundred metres. The largest of these features is almost 700 m (about 2,300 ft) in diameter and approximately 260 m (about 850 ft) deep.

Scientists estimate that roughly 25% of Earth’s population either lives on karst terrain or derives its water from karstic aquifers. Because sinkholes are often important components of local and regional aquifer systems and because of their role as active geohazards, these features will for better or for worse continue to have a significant societal impact.

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